Boris Johnson to submit partygate defence dossier – as team insists he will be ‘vindicated’ by committee of MPs
Boris Johnson is to submit a dossier of evidence ahead of an interrogation by MPs over whether he lied to Parliament about the partygate scandal.
Mr Johnson will provide information in his defence as he prepares for a lengthy televised grilling by the Commons privileges committee on Wednesday, where he faces a fight for his political life.
A spokesperson for the former PM has asserted that the privileges committee “will vindicate Boris Johnson’s position”, adding that “the evidence will show that Boris Johnson did not knowingly mislead parliament.”
In an interim report, the committee said the evidence strongly suggested breaches of coronavirus rules in No 10 would have been “obvious” to Mr Johnson.
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They are examining evidence around at least four occasions when he may have deliberately misled MPs with his assurances that lockdown regulations were followed.
Mr Johnson, who was fined by the Metropolitan Police for breaching his own COVID-19 laws, has denied deceiving the Commons.
Allies of the ex-Tory leader said he would provide a “detailed and compelling” account to the committee before his appearance, showing that he “did not knowingly mislead the House”.
The Sunday Times reported he will point to a series of previously undisclosed WhatsApp messages from senior civil servants and members of his No 10 team showing that he had relied upon their advice when he made his statements to Parliament.
He will also publish messages which show that other senior figures in Downing Street believed the gatherings were covered by the “workplace exemption” in the lockdown rules.
A committee spokesperson said: “The committee has invited Mr Johnson to provide written evidence to the inquiry, should he wish, in advance of the oral evidence session.
“Any such response will be published.
“The committee has said that Mr Johnson may publish his own written evidence, if he chooses, but any such evidence must also be formally submitted to the committee which will itself publish it as soon as is practicably possible after receiving it, after initial analysis (to make sure no redactions of witness names needed, etc).
“The committee would publish on the website in the usual way.”
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Partygate inquiry explained
The panel’s investigation is being chaired by Labour’s Harriet Harman, although the cross-party group has a Tory majority.
The seven-strong committee will decide whether Mr Johnson committed a contempt of Parliament and recommend any punishment, although the final say would fall to the full House of Commons.
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Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden told Sky News Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “I’m sure Boris Johnson will give a robust defence of himself and then it will be for the committee to to determine the outcome of it.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he would not seek to influence MPs on the committee and indicated he would grant a free vote to the Conservative ranks on any sanction that may be proposed.
Asked if he was concerned a suspension of more than 10 days could trigger a by-election in Mr Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat, Mr Sunak added: “This is a matter for Parliament, for the House. It’s not right for the government to get involved.”
In recent days, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt warned against intimidation of members on the privileges committee.
She said they must be “permitted to get on with their work without fear or favour” and emphasised they were are “doing this House a service”.
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Mr Johnson and his supporters have raised concerns over partygate investigator Sue Gray’s pending move to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s office from the civil service.
However, the committee has denied its inquiry is based on the Gray report.
Instead, the inquiry has taken evidence from witnesses’ WhatsApp messages, emails and pictures from a Downing Street photographer.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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